N. was discharged from hospital yesterday morning, and was put into an “emergency placement” by CFS, in his case a largely unsupervised placement in a motel on Portage Avenue West near the Grace Hospital. By the time I got the message and called the motel, n. had left to see his girlfriend. I checked again this morning and he did not come back last night. I have a phone number for the apartment where his girlfriend is staying, and I called him. He took the phone but he ended the call quickly with an excuse that somebody else needed to use the phone. He called me back later on my cell phone. He said he had returned to the motel and he was talking with a mouth full of food. He wanted to get some clothes and he agreed to have dinner too.
The longer story of yesterday is that Jan, n. and I met with the psychiatric resident who has followed n.’s case and with a senior psychiatrist for about an hour. On n.’s earlier admission in February most psychiatric issues including psychosis and personality disorders were largely ruled out, with a question about bipolar disorder. This time the resident said she could not diagnose bipolar disorder either. She qualified this by saying that n. didn’t want to talk about his thoughts and feelings much. The senior psychiatrist had a few other qualifications and comments. We didn’t finish the conference and agreed to come back on Friday. I will leave the further details of the conference for a separate post.
Jan took n. for lunch and then took him to the Public Safety Building where he had an appointment for his fingerprints to be taken, in connection with outstanding charges. She then dropped him at my office so that I could take him to a lawyer in another firm who has agreed to represent n. on his charges. When n. was through with that, I bought him a donut and a soft drink and we waited for his CFS worker to pick him up and drive him to the emergency placement. While we waited, n. wanted a smoke. He showed me a metal band CD that Jan had bought him to replace a CD he lost when he left the last group home. I don’t know what she was rewarding or thought she was rewarding.
I asked n. to call me when he got to the group home and let me know what clothes he might need. I have ended up with his clothes and personal effects after he was kicked out of the last group home. I invited him and his girlfriend to come for dinner. I told him that I would pick him up and get him downtown for Court – he must attend in person – on Thursday morning. He agreed to call me. He didn’t call and he was gone when I called him at the motel and didn’t want to talk to me this morning.
When I had asked n., during his hospital stay, about his plan to stay with his girlfriend and her friends, he implied that her friends had jobs although he was vague. He answered my direct questions about there they work with “I don’t know”. The male friend was in the apartment to answer this morning at 10:45 when I phoned, so he wasn’t at work at that point. So n. is out, basically living with his girlfriend and her friends. He has some of what he wants – freedom, a roof over his head, pussy, a little metal to listen to, access to drugs. He did call me back and agree to come for dinner so he is trying to keep the relationship open.
He says he wants to give up crystal meth but he also has been pretty clear that he does not want outside help. He also has been clear that he can manage – and will not give up weed and ‘shrooms. I think I believe that he has been scared by crystal and wants to give up but I think he is still at risk.
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